But Joseph V. Cuffari and his staff have refused to release certain documents and tried to block interviews, effectively delaying that probe, which has now stretched for more than 15 months and evolved into a wide-ranging inquiry into more than a dozen allegations of misconduct raised by whistleblowers and other sources, according to three people familiar with the case who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss an open investigation.
That probe, for now, does not include an investigation into the missing Secret Service texts, which instead are the subject of multiple congressional inquiries.
Some Republican senators have also raised stiff resistance to the wider investigation into Cuffari — which is being overseen by a panel of federal watchdogs from the Council of the Inspectors General on Integrity and Efficiency (CIGIE) — questioning the need for a full probe into the Trump administration appointee.
Led by Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) the senators have demanded that investigators scale back records requests from Cuffari’s office and pressed them on their motives, according to congressional aides and documents.
Cuffari and his staff have complained to the senators of a politically motivated fishing expedition designed to undermine him, according to sources familiar with the investigation and congressional aides. In a written response to questions from House lawmakers last summer, Cuffari said the probe “will destroy” his office. He accused investigators of “undermining my attempts to clean up DHS OIG.”
A spokeswoman for Cuffari declined to comment.
One person close to the process described a “war of attrition” between Cuffari and the panel known as the Integrity Committee that is overseeing the inquiry, undermining oversight designed to hold inspectors general to the same standards as the federal agency officials they monitor.
“Watchdogs need to be held to the highest standards if they are to be credible,” said Nick Schwellenbach, a senior investigator with the nonprofit Project On Government Oversight, which advocates for a stronger federal watchdog system and last week called on Biden to fire Cuffari. “There’s a pattern of Cuffari resisting the kind of oversight that other federal employees face.”
A spokeswoman for the inspector general community declined to comment. But former watchdogs said they have never seen a colleague under investigation seek partisan allies to defend them to the degree that Cuffari has.
“I’ve never become aware that members of Congress had attempted to insert themselves in any way into an investigation,” recalled Michael Bromwich, a former Justice Department inspector general from 1994 to 1999 who himself came under investigation by the Integrity panel.
“It’s going to give investigators pause,” Bromwich said. “An already slow process will be further delayed by the interest of members of Congress, whose actions will throw sand in the gears.”
In his three years at Homeland Security, Cuffari has repeatedly faced allegations of partisan decision-making in his role as watchdog at the third-largest federal agency. Most recently, he has faced scrutiny over his office’s decision to block his staff from recovering communications among Secret Service agents during the insurrection.
Top House Democrats last week called on Cuffari to recuse himself from their probe of the missing Secret Service communications, a demand he has so far declined to heed. The Washington Post reported last week…
Read More: Embattled Homeland Security watchdog, GOP allies, resist probe
